Blocked aid and starvation forces Gazan to grow his own

In a Gaza displacement camp where food remains scarce and aid often proves dangerous to collect, the farmer, Ibrahim Abu Jabal, grows vegetables to keep his family alive, as reported by Al-Monitor via AFP on August 7th.

The 39-year-old has turned a modest strip of land beside his tent in Gaza City into a garden of tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers. Surrounded by tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians.

“Our bodies need tomatoes, cucumbers,” he said. “And these products are expensive here. Not just expensive — they’re not even available. There are no tomatoes, and even if there were, we wouldn’t have the money to buy them.”

Abu Jabal revived his old trade, planting seeds dried from previous vegetables. With only 120 square metres of sandy ground and an unreliable water supply, he continues to pursue his mission.

“Due to the situation we’re going through… and the soaring prices of vegetables, I had to return to my old profession,” he said. He prepared the plot “so I can start planting again, just so my children and I can survive another day, or a little longer.”

Water flows for just one hour from a nearby pipe. To keep the garden alive, Abu Jabal hauls heavy jugs across the camp. With the instability of food aid, the blocking of clean water access, and the violence near aid distribution points – of which Amnesty International has accused Israel of weaponising aid to carry out genocide – there seems to be little Palestinians can do to avoid starvation.

The UN continues to warn of famine. Israel faces rising pressure to end the war, which began when Hamas attacked Israel in October 2023. That attack killed 1,219 people, mostly civilians. Since then, Israel’s offensive has claimed over 61,000 lives in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry – figures the UN deems valid.

“People are starving not because food is unavailable, but because access is blocked, local agrifood systems have collapsed, and families can no longer sustain even the most basic livelihoods,” the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization chief Qu Dongyu said.

Abu Jabal’s daughter suffered injuries near a charity kitchen. “The American aid does not satisfy people’s hunger,” he said. “For someone who has nine children like me, what can a single box of aid really do?”

Al-Monitor via AFP, Maghrebi.org